1.China opened to traffic a 22.13-km-long tunnel, which it claimed to be the “world’s longest”, in Xinjiang province, Friday.

2.China Friday imposed sanctions on 20 US defence firms in response to the Trump administration’s approval of a record $11.1 billion arms sales package to Taiwan.

3.The fifth Rupert Cornwell Prize for Journalism has been won by Trisha Mukherjee, a freelance journalist based in New York.

4.Malaysia’s influential former premier Najib Razak was jailed Friday for a further 15 years and fined $2.8 billion for power abuse and money laundering in the biggest trial of the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal, a ruling that could have big political ramifications.

5.Silver prices soar by Rs9,350 to hit fresh lifetime high of Rs2,36,350 per 1 kg tracking strong global cues.

6.Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi Friday said that 15 lakh hectares of land will be irrigated during the next three years in the state.

7.The rupee depreciated 19 paise to close at 89.90 against the US dollar Friday.

8.The state government will provide free travel for school students in government-run buses under the Mukhyamantri Bus Seva (MBS) scheme, a move aimed at reducing dropouts, officials said.

9.The United States carried out a strike against Islamic State militants in northwest Nigeria at the request of Nigeria’s government, President Donald Trump and the US military said Thursday.

10.Senior BJP leader and former MLA Sanchita Mohanty died at her residence at the age of Sixty-seven-year .Mohanty was elected to the Odisha Assembly from the Korei constituency in 2004.

11.A Special Vigilance Court here Friday found former IAS officer Vinod Kumar, the ex-managing director of Odisha Rural Housing Development Corporation (ORHDC), and five others guilty in a housing scam case.

12.Several parts of the state continue to reel under cold wave conditions with mercury plummeting to below 10 degrees Celsius mark at 11 places Friday.

13.More Than 2,000 Maoists Have Surrendered said Chhattisgarh Chief Minister

14.Two daughters of gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli filed their nomination papers on Friday for the January 15 Mumbai civic polls.

15.The 14-year-old batting prodigy Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who has taken the cricket world by storm with his audacious stroke-play, and seven-year-old chess prodigy Vaka Lakshmi Pragnika were among a host of children who were Friday conferred with the prestigious Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar by President Droupadi Murmu .